It's rather clear that education IS better when Charter Schools and private school vouchers are allowed and yet at the behest of the teacher's unions, Democratic politicians vote against those things. Why?
Because the teachers unions have formed a crime family with Democratic politicians, the politicians raise taxes, give the money to the teachers unions, they kick back part of the money to the politicians. A scheme that would make a mob boss green with envy.
As private sector unions shrank the Dem's were desperate for money so they unionized public employees, now if they need more money they just raise taxes. That's why the working poor and middle class in states like NJ live on slave wages while the teachers union hammers them with insanely high taxes. The politicians who are supposed to be representing the tax payers in negotiations with the unions instead are collaborating with them on how to squeeze more and more out of the taxpayers.
Certainly there is corruption in entrenched political machines. That's why political parties are dangerous, and why I don't partake of them.
But that's got nothing to do with philosophical ideologies of what day the garbage gets picked up or whether an intersection should have a stop sign.
It has everything to do with the polices they set for their city police departments.